Gov. Wolf signs order to provide targeted distribution of COVID-19 PPE and supplies to hospitals

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf signs an executive order for his administration to start working on regulations to bring Pennsylvania into a nine-state consortium that sets a price and limits on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2019 in Harrisburg, Pa. The move is part of Wolf’s effort to fight climate change in the nation’s fourth-biggest emitter of greenhouse gases. (AP Photo/Marc Levy)

HARRISBURG, Pa. (WTAJ) — On Wednesday afternoon, Governor Tom Wolf signed an order to provide critical aid to hospitals with targeted PPE and supplies distribution.

The order will ensure the efficient allocation and effective use of critical medical resources, such as N95 face masks, ventilators, respirators, face shields, safety goggles, disinfectants and other sanitizing solutions by hospitals in the state.

The order reads, that “despite the voluntary efforts of health care providers and despite the exhaustive work of commonwealth agencies to procure PPE and other medical resources from private industry to support Pennsylvania’s health care workers, facilities and emergency responders, a critical shortage of PPE, pharmaceuticals and other medical resources remains.”

“Combatting a pandemic means we all have to work together and that means we need to make the best use of our medical assets to ensure the places that need them most have them,” Gov. Wolf said. “Today, I am signing an order that will allow us to transfer suppliesand information between medical facilities to both high-population, high-impact areas and lower population areas that might not have as many existing medical resources.

The governor consulted with Sec. of Health, Dr. Rachel Levine, and Randy Padfield, director of the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA), in developing the order to ensure all commonwealth resources are harnessed to meet the imminent surge of COVID-19 cases and to prevent overwhelming the health care system.

Health care providers and facilities are further ordered to provide written reports detailing facility health care needs and other pertinent information in the form, manner and frequency directed by PEMA.

Also today, the Department of Health launched a new hospital preparedness dashboard that provides county-level information, including the number of available beds and ventilators in use at facilities across the state. The dashboard also provides an overview of the capacity of the state’s entire health care system.

“We are working to create more ways to get as much data as possible to the community,” Dr. Levine said.